Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 21, 1993 TAG: 9302220258
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ROBERT L. WHITELAW
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DON'T TREAT CLINTON LIKE A DEMIGOD
THE HEADLINE on your Feb. 6 editorial ("What hath Clinton wrought?") equating President Clinton to God was no doubt tongue-in-cheek. Nevertheless, it is a symptom of a fantasy, largely built by media hype every election year, by which the public is deluded into thinking the president rules an American empire with the powers of Caesar and the wisdom of Solomon. I suggest it is high time your readers be told what the president is not, and what he cannot do.
He does not preside over the 50 states (no one "presides" over them); nor was he chosen by a majority of the states, nor of the voters, much less of all possible voters.
He is not president of the United States Congress. There is no such office.
He is not president of the Senate. That person is the vice president.
He does not preside over the House of Representatives. That is the House speaker's job.
He is certainly not president of the Supreme Court.
He cannot overrule a single state governor, legislature or even a county supervisor or town mayor, except by due process of law.
Neither he, nor any of his Cabinet or bureaucrats have the power to make law, nor may such power be delegated to them by Congress or a state.
Neither he nor any of his autocratic bureaus have the power to pass judgment on or punish offenders against any law or regulation (even though they attempt to).
He is neither able, nor empowered to solve every economic, technical or social problem that now plagues the nation.
He may not alter or suspend the Constitution he has sworn to defend, except by invoking martial law in the case of clear and present danger.
He can be arrested for speeding, drunken driving, passing drugs, etc., like any common offender.
He is subject to all the human frailties of depression, disease, weakness, pain and, finally, death, in common with the lowliest citizen in the land.
He is merely the presiding officer of the executive branch of the federal government, and commander in chief of the armed forces, with those powers expressly delegated to that office in the Constitution by the states whose citizens separately chose to enter the union - a choice dictated largely by the need for a powerful joint defense against foreign enemies that might threaten the survival of an individual state.
And now that no such enemies are in sight, much less able to invade as they were in 1789, it may well be time to ponder two simple questions:
If we should wake up some morning to discover that the entire federal government has vanished into thin air - with all its buildings, bureaucrats, bloated budgets, brass, bullets, bombs and braggarts - would we have lost anything of importance, except for the few with personal friends and loved ones on the federal payroll? And, given the choice, what should we put in its place to do the few things we really need done at the federal level?
How should we regard the new president? Considering his age and immaturity, and the forces behind him pulling the strings, we should watch him like a hawk, praise him where he deserves it, but never corrupt him with flattery or by speaking of him as a demigod. That way is to destroy him, as it did Herod in Acts 12:22, and many a proud ruler since.
Robert L. Whitelaw of Blacksburg is professor emeritus of mechanical and nuclear engineering at Virginia Tech.